Outside Reading, Week 5, Post B

In other books that I have read that take place in developing nations, whenever the natives are exposed to aspects of modern society, such as new technologies or people of different color skin, the author always address it in the cliché and childish way of describing how the natives react. Many simply create new phrases using words the natives already know, such as "iron bird" for airplane or "boom staff" for gun, while others always make the natives attribute the new elements to the gods or some sort of mystical force. Despite the fact that these are widely used and accepted, I have never felt that they are fully satisfying as a reader. It seems like real people wouldn't react in this way and it completely ruins any immersion that the novel had going for it. I am glad to say, however, that Things Fall Apart takes a new approach to this rather outdated concept by allowing the natives to describe things rationally.

While when the white men first arrive, Okonkwo and the other tribe members describe the bicycles as "iron horses", the author quickly escapes that oft-traveled rut and escapes into something more realistic. When the missionaries finally arrive at the town, Okonkwo doesn't describe them as "sand skinned" or some other ridiculous name like that, he simply calls them "white skinned", a very sound description. Also, when the missionaries start preaching to the villagers, he doesn't simply speak in English or attempt to communicate by pointing, he hires a translator from a nearby village, but who speaks in a different dialect, creating a bit of confusion. These seem like much more reasonable occurrences in this type of setting, again demonstrating why Things Fall Apart is set aside from the rest of the books of this genre.